Gift Of Organs Gets Stamp Of Approval

Sheldon Kalin was an electrician in Brooklyn, N.Y., back when sections of the sprawling borough were little more than acres of trees.

That pioneering spirit is what helped the Boca Raton resident survive an organ transplant eight years ago after his heart enlarged and threatened to end his life.

``Now I play tennis three times a week, and I bowl once a week. I'm in better shape now than before the operation,'' Kalin, 70, said.

In Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a stamp intended to encourage organ and tissue donations and help save the lives of more than 50,000 Americans who currently need transplants.

``Through this stamp and the visibility it generates, we hope that people from every diverse background will discuss organ and tissue donations with their families and consider the possibility of giving a future to someone they have never met,'' said Kenneth L. Haywood, Fort Lauderdale postmaster.

The 32-cent stamp, designed by artist Andy Levine of Long Island, N.Y., features a drawing of two intertwined figures with hands reaching out to each other's hearts. The words ``Organ and Tissue Donation'' and ``Share Your Life'' appear beneath the image. Fifty million of the stamps were made available Wednesday at post offices nationwide.

``This stamp symbolizes another effort to get the public's attention about organ donation,'' said Ken Trachy, director of education for the division of transplantation at the University of Miami School of Medicine. The school is a world leader in transplantation and is joining the donor awareness campaign in South Florida. ``[The stamp) is meant to emphasize how much you need the generosity and caring of strangers.''

The need for organ and tissue donations is especially acute in minority communities where people in need of organs often remain on waiting lists for organs twice as long as whites, said Ishmael Sharpe, director of the Minority Organ and Tissue Transplant Education Program at the University of Miami. Sharpe said when his program began 41/2 years ago, only 3 percent of organ donations came from minorities. This year, 20 percent have come from minority donors.

``These groups are least likely to sign donor cards,'' Sharpe said. ``It could be for many reasons _ from fears of premature death, mistrust of the medical community, fear of disfigurement after death or just not wanting to have the conversation.'' But with the help of this program and others like it across the nation, ``we have made great strides where transplantation is concerned.''

Phyllis Keith had ``the conversation'' about organ and tissue donation with her son Clarence just two weeks before a car accident left the 16-year-old brain dead. Keith was faced with the painful decision of whether to use life support.

``His decision [to donate his organs) helped me answer the question about what to do,'' Keith said. ``It took the pressure off me. It was like he was giving me permission.

``We talk about everything else as families. We talk about life after high school and when you're going to drive. But you have to talk about what to do if something happens. People forget there are those things called accidents.''